Sever of the Heart
by Kiskadi
Summary: Hate, pain, suffering. Feelings such as these rip through the hearts of their beholders. Even through dead, those unwilling to forgive will continue to cry, continue to long for happiness...
1. It begins

"Today's so clear!" Colette remarked, "Lloyd will be happy when he wakes up!" Smiling, she quietly closed the window in her hotel room. "I'd better go see if he's up."

She skipped out the door only to trip in front of Lloyd's room. The little gift box she was holding went flying down the hall. "Oh no!" She cried. Picking herself up, the 17-year-old girl hastily ran to the package, checking if anything was broken. Soon after, a teen with brown hair walked out of the room. He yawned and looked down the hall to find his friend wiping dust off of a box.

"What are you doing so early, Colette?" Lloyd asked. Colette, hearing the sudden voice, turned around only to fall again, sending the present flying in Lloyd's direction. He caught it with ease and stared at it blankly. "What's this for?"

"Oh, G-good morning, Lloyd." Colette stuttered. She rose and slowly walked towards him. "Today is, you know, the anniversary." She smiled gently, "A year ago you reunited the worlds... and I wanted to give you something... so you wouldn't forget." She was now blushing immensely. "G-go ahead, open it."

Lloyd looked at the box, and then smiled at Colette, which only made her blush harder. "It's not that exciting!" She added, "I really didn't know what to give you. So, I-I bought this at the last minute. I- I know I should have planned ahead of time! I'm really so--" she was cut off as Lloyd began to take off the red ribbon.

"Don't worry about it," he assured her, "it's amazing you even remembered. I completely forgot to get you something as well. I guess that was kind of stupid of me." Lloyd scratched his head and looked down at the floor.

Upon hearing that, Colette brightened and exclaimed, "It's alright! It was you who united the worlds, anyway! I was there merely there for support. Besides, I like you like this..." She trailed off with a gentle feeling in her heart.

Lloyd also stopped and stared at the floor. When he realized his face was heating up, he quickly returned to the package in an attempt to hide it. The crisp wrapper was carefully peeled from its held position. Tape bound the wrapper tightly and a struggle could be seen trying to remove it. Colette stared with suspense as Lloyd lifted the top. Inside was a round, golden locket attached to a gold chain. Lloyd picked it up and looked at it with content. It was identical to the locket Kratos had kept his mother's picture in.

"Dad..." He whispered. Just the idea of his parents sent a sharp pain into his heart. He scanned the bottom of the box to make sure nothing was missed. Sure enough, there was something he had overlooked. A single feather lay at the bottom of that box. It had a perfect blend of pink and purple. As Lloyd lifted it out of the box, Colette could feel her heart pounding, wanting to escape. The feather glistened in the sunshine and beautiful transparent powder continued to fall from the edges. The soft feeling of this feather warmed every part of Lloyd's body. He closed his eyes and allowed the feeling to completely take over his senses. From this dream, he was awakened by a small voice.

"Lloyd?" Colette asked. "It's alright if you don't like it," she continued to tilt her head towards the floor. "When I saw the locket, I thought you might want it. It's like Kratos's, right?" She shifted around. "I thought... if we could find a picture of your mother, we could put it in... I thought that would have made you happy," she looked up and gave a small giggle. "I guess reminding you of your parents was stupid of me, I'm...sorry..." Lloyd could now feel that Colette was faking her smile.

"No, no, don't say sorry for such a small thing," He responded, "I love it, but...why did you give me one of your feathers?"

"Oh," She giggled, "it's...it's nothing. I thought you might want to keep one, so you'll never forget me." A worried expression appeared on her face. "The mana is depleting, Lloyd. Can you feel it?"

"Is...that all you wanted to tell me?" He asked.

"Yeah...yeah of course..." Colette gave another small giggle. Lloyd put his hand on her shoulder,

"Alright," He said, "and really, don't worry about the gifts. I love them. How could I ever forget you, silly?" His hands tightened on the feather. Colette's face turned bright pink. "Come on, we should check out." With a small hug, Lloyd walked down the stairs to do what he had said, leaving Colette standing on the rails clenching her chest.

"Lloyd..." she whispered, "Please forgive me, I don't want you to worry." Soon after, she hurried down the stairs after her friend.

A bow from Colette signaled the women at the front desk, that she was with Lloyd and she, too, was leaving. While Lloyd waited for Colette to catch up, the never-ending winds of Asgard blew through his hair.

"Wait up, Lloyd! That nice woman gave me some candy." She ran up and emptied the candy into Lloyd's hand, keeping one for herself.

"I heard from Genis that candy will rot your teeth," Lloyd stated, as he suspiciously examined one of the fruit jellies. Even with this thought in mind, he popped one into his month. "Mm, not bad."

"I love candy. Besides, the woman also told me that there used to be a priest who had an exsphere. He died 2 months ago and they buried him near an old temple." She took another candy from her pocket and chewed on it with delight. "I think she said it was one kilometer north of here, and that it's pretty old so we should be careful." Lloyd scratched his head and wondered how far that was. They began to approach the fields outside Asgard.

He and Colette had been traveling since the two worlds re-united. Their mission was to round up all the exspheres left in their world. Never once had they seen any of their friends again. The only sort of contact that was made was a letter from Genis, which was too complicated for Lloyd to understand. Lloyd chuckled softly, "Sometimes I'm really glad it was Colette who decided to join me." He whispered.

"What?" Colette asked, "Are you talking to yourself?" She chuckled at the idea.

"Oh, you heard me!" Lloyd blushed in amazement. Even after one year with Colette, he was still embarrassed whenever he showed his lack of intelligence. "What am I surprised for? I mean you still have your angel senses. It would have been weirder if you didn't hear me."

"Heh heh, y-yeah...... So, what were you thinking about?" She waited eagerly to hear what he had to say. Although Lloyd wasn't the wisest, his views of life and the surroundings could fascinate even the highest scholars.

"I was just thinking...." He turned to see Colette staring at him. "Well...um... I-I was thinking a...bout..."

"Yes?"

"...about how long it would be before we saw our friends again, if we ever do." Colette stopped. She stood there smiling at Lloyd. It was a brief smile, because it soon faded and she kneed down to feel the grass covered earth.

"We'll see them again." She said. "You mustn't think like that. A special bond links each and every one of us. It's like this little ant." She pointed to a place in the grass and Lloyd bent down to join her. A little ant was struggling to get back to his colony. He could barely get over one piece of grass with ten or twenty to go. Soon, two ants started to march out of line, heading its way. "Whenever there is trouble for one of us," Colette continued, "the others will be there to help. And no matter how long it takes, or how difficult the journey, we will always be there for each other, even if it is not physically." Lloyd watched with amazement as the two ants helped their friend across the grass to rejoin their marching line. He continued to stare until Colette stood up. "So don't worry," her true smile shown out, "we'll see them again, even if it's not anytime soon." She dusted off her clothes and helped Lloyd up. "You should call Noishe," She said, "We should get going, I'll navigate."

"You always do anyway," Lloyd answered.

A green and white dog-like creature sprinted towards Lloyd and Colette. It nudged both friends and whined. Lloyd helped Colette up before getting on. Noishe whined, yet again, before setting off in the desired direction Colette pointed. The animal was happy to be back with his friends. The previous night was cold, and he had kept an eye on the hotel windows till he fell into a deep sleep. He hated to be alone.

One hour after they left, they stopped next to a little river for a break. Noishe greedily drank the pure, flowing water as Colette took out two cups to fill. The weather of that day was fluctuating. This wasn't surprising to any member of the group. The mana levels of the land had been fairly unsteady for a while now. Lloyd wiped the sweat off his forehead and wondered if it was affecting Colette. It was definitely affecting him. Sometimes he found it hard to breathe, other times his body felt heavy and unable to move freely. He decided he would ask her.

"Colette," he began, "how are you coping with the mana levels lately?" Yet again, she froze.

"Oh," she said, "w-why would you ask that?" She smiled weakly and walked over to where Lloyd was seated. Handing him a cup of water, she took a sip of her own before continuing, "I'm not having problems," She said, "I've noticed that the level of mana is very unstable, but I'm adjusting quite well," She turned and looked at Lloyd, "Why?"

"Well, you've been riding Noishe with me lately. Usually you would just fly." Colette began to hold her cup tighter, "You're always saying that riding Noishe would be fun but you would exhaust him, and you didn't want that. I don't mean that I don't want you to ride Noishe with me; the changing mana is affecting me so I was just wondering if it was affecting you. If you're tired at any time, just tell me, okay? I'll try to do everything I can to help."

Noishe seconded that with a little whimper. Colette was happy to hear this. She was glad that both of them cared so much. She cared for them, too...a lot.

"Thank you," She said. The tone in her voice was soft and melodic, "but I'm okay...really. Please don't worry," She got up to put away her cup. "Do you want more water?" she asked. Lloyd shook his head and put away his cup as well. "Are you done, Noishe?" Colette went over and patted the fuzzy creature. A little whine and a nod were her only response.

"We should get going," Lloyd said, "It's getting hotter and we really need to find some sort of shade."

"Oh, don't worry," Colette reassured him, "The temple shouldn't be much further. That nice lady told me they fixed the exsphere on a stone pillar under the temple. All we need to do is retrieve it; then we can rest at Luin for the night." Lloyd was again dumbfounded at Colette's ability to think ahead. He was dazed for a while before realizing Colette was already waiting on Noishe. They took off once again.

The temple was composed of stone pillars set in a shape that was indescribable. Each block had a unique pattern engraved on it. Statues where randomly placed on the earth surrounding the temple. Lloyd, Colette, and Noishe slowly walked onto these sacred grounds. Looking up, they could see that the pillars were carved to perfection as the tip met a giant slab of smooth rock. It was slanted and held up yet another flat square block that connected the pillars to the beautifully shaped rock. On the giant rock were engraved carvings that represented words not of their language. The writing was old, and barely legible even to one who might have been skilled in deciphering hieroglyphs. The closer they got to the temple, the clearer the details became. There were two different statues, both maidens. One had long flowing hair and cold glaring eyes. Her dress was made of pieces and shapes, all of which gave an insecure feeling to the travelers. She had one earring, just one, attached to her left ear. The earring was in a shape of a sharp wing. It dangled on rusted chains. Under each of these statues, the ground was dead. Life had been sucked out of them and of what was there before, only carcasses remained. Under some of these statues were even bones of small, unfortunate animals that had wandered too close. This alarmed Lloyd as Colette approached one for a better look.

"Don't get too close," He strictly warned.

"She looks...sad," Colette said, "As if she is alone..." She stared for a while before slowly stepping back and rejoining the group. Lloyd continued to look around, and soon found Noishe transfixed on the one of the other carved statues. This statue was different from the previous ones. She too had long hair, except it was tied with two long ribbons. A longer bow was used to hold up the hair closest to her head. About two thirds of the way down, another smaller bow was carved into the statue. This girl had a two piece outfit attached with a strip of beautifully carved cloth at the waist. Her dress flowed as if in the wind and on her right ear she wore the missing earring to that of the other girl. Beneath her stand, vines grew in every shade of green possible. Flowers flourished and grass grew madly in every which direction. There were signs that little ground birds had once made a nest at her feet.

"She reminds me of you, Colette." Lloyd commented. Colette blushed and denied that fact. They continued to walk down the nicely laid path until they got to the stairs of the entrance. Lloyd felt a funny rushing feeling but did not realize where it came from.

"This place..." Colette began, "is flowing with mana." She held her own elbows to try to retain the immense power. Lloyd looked at Colette and wondered. He felt nothing like she did; only a tiny tingle when approaching the area. Noishe, too, started to whine. He refused to go any further. Lloyd and Colette were given no choice but to leave him at the bottom.

They walked up the stairs and on approaching the top, Lloyd noticed that there was a large grave placed parallel to the stone steps. Green vines grew all over the room and covered every stone. Above the tomb was a carved statue of the Goddess Martel. Her arms reached out welcoming the visitors. Beneath her, the gravestone stood in the light that was emitted from a crack in the ceiling. There, fresh flowers where lay sparkling as the dew had not completely dried.

"This place is so calming." Colette said, "It's so hot today, yet these flowers have not withered." She kneeled down and prayed. Getting up, she examined the flowers more closely. There were only 3 kinds that she knew of, the rest were unknown yet just as marvelous. Upon the gravestone were similar carvings to the ones outside.

"I can't understand them," Lloyd complained, "Why is everything in this temple in another language?" He slowly skimmed the tablet and noticed a few words he could read.

"_Here lies Heath Caprous. From his heart grew the path of knowledge and from his mind came the doorway to wisdom."_

"Hmm," Lloyd said, "I guess the exsphere is placed somewhere under here." He scratched his head in the thought of the retrieval process. "Gee, couldn't the priest have told the people to bury the exsphere on the first floor?"

"He was a scholar," came a voice, "and if the exsphere was placed on the first floor, monsters would have raided this place long ago." A silver outline started to appear from the bottom of the steps. Lloyd and Colette gazed in amazement as a young boy about the age of thirteen walked towards them. "But that's so typical of you, Lloyd," He said, "You never did think of consequences to anything you did prior to doing it." The boy walked up to Lloyd and smiled. "What? You're that surprised to see me?" He then turned to Colette. "Well it's good to see you two are still getting along. I was beginning to worry, since the mana has been so dangerously unstable."

Tears filled Colette's eyes as she suddenly bent down and hugged the boy, "Genis!" she cried, "I'm so happy too see you! How is your trip going? Are you getting everything you need? Is Professor Sage here?" She wiped her tears in an attempt to stop them, but they continued to flow. "Lloyd, say something!"

Lloyd's mouth hung open for a bit before he closed them and smiled. Colette let go of Genis and stood up, also keeping a grin on her face. "It's really good to see you," Lloyd finally said. He and Genis clasped hands.

"Lloyd you're still the same as always." Genis said. "I hope you're treating Colette right."

"Of course he is!" she corrected, "Lloyd is doing a great job of collecting all of the exspheres. I'm sure we'll be done soon."

Lloyd blushed at the complement and realized he had something else to ask. "Is Professor Sage somewhere here?" He pointed to the green area around the temple.

"Yeah," Genis replied, "she's outside."

He leaded them out onto the stairs. The sun was setting and this took Colette and Lloyd by surprise. It had been bright and the sunlight had given a warm glow all within the temple. The temperature outside was now dropping, and the pair was perplexed at the complicity of a temple that looked so simple.

A woman stood at the bottom of the stairs. She held a wooden staff and was comforting the excited Noishe. A round hat was worn on her head. It glowed a warm brown under the setting sun. This was accompanied by a brown shirt that dangled on the sides of her body. Ribbons tied at the waist blew in the wind and a brown belt was used to hold up a red pair of baggy pants. A fairly short ponytail hung to the nap of her neck. Colette sprinted down the stairs and embraced the woman. They began to giggle and talk. Lloyd walked casually down with Genis, and was slightly shocked at the change in hairstyle.

"Professor," He said, "It's great to see you again!" He paused, "You... grew your hair."

"I hope you're keeping up with your studies, Lloyd," Raine ignored the comment.

Lloyd shuddered and stopped at a distance from the Professor. Genis chuckled, "Is that all you have to say?" He asked.

Both he and Colette laughed as Lloyd's attempt to make them stop only resulted in failure. Genis and Raine explained the reasons for their travels around that area. They had left to explore the word soon after the unification of the world. On many occasions they had discovered new areas. They stayed to study each for some time before moving on. Although the journey was fruitful, they, too, had not seen any of their former traveling companions. Upon hearing of the new temple at which they were now, Raine immediately set off with Genis to see what could be found. They had already been staying in Luin for quite some time and had deciphered the writing on the tombstone. Today, they were prepared to open the long locked doors. This was the reason for Raine to have worn her acolyte robe.

"I was going to perform the ceremonial dance upon the altar," she explained, "The altar is located in a room just behind that of the grave. I finished deciphering the hieroglyphs late last night and overslept this morning."

"That's the main reason why Raine's hair is so long," Genis said, "She's always so busy she never has time to cut it. It's also why we came so late today. I tried to wake her up but Raine's even scarier when she's cranky."

Raine slapped him before continuing, "Now that we've met you, I'm positive this temple is holding a secret," Genis's cries of pain could be heard in the background. Colette turned and tired to comfort him. "Although the planned excavation of the site was today, it might need to be delayed," she looked up at the sky, "It's darkening fast, and I suggest we just rest in Luin for tonight. The people of Luin are very educated about the temple and I am sure they will be pleased to hear you have come to try to remove the exsphere. It has recently been acting up and has begun polluting the surrounding air. I believe it has something to do with the shifting mana levels." She paused for a breath.

"Um, professor..." Lloyd asked, "How did you know we came for the exsphere?"

"Isn't it obvious?" Genis insisted, "You told us before we left that you and Colette were going on a journey to collect all the remaining exspheres." Raine sighed and both friends laughed again.

"Genis..." Lloyd said. He had forgotten the feeling of being around Genis and smiled softly. Although it didn't make him feel any brighter, it was a familiar feeling and he enjoyed it. The reunited group of travelers agreed to stay at Luin for that night, and first thing tomorrow, they would come back to finish what they had started. On the way back, Lloyd realized that Colette seemed to have regained much of her energy. "I guess Colette is just as glad as I am to see Genis and Raine," He thought. Together, they walked to Luin and each checked out a room at the only inn in town.

That night, Colette quietly went outside and looked at the stars. She recalled all the adventures she had the past year, and then noticed something different about the sky.

"Colette?" Colette turned around to find Lloyd coming down the stairs. "What are you looking at?"

"Oh, Lloyd," She smiled. "I was just looking at the stars. There's something in the sky tonight, look." She pointed at an object suspended next to their two moons.

"Wow," Lloyd replied, "What is it?"

"It's Derris-Kharlan." Genis come outside followed by Raine. "This is the only night each year that it is visible to our planet."

Lloyd looked up at the purple planet, "So dad's up there, huh?" He whispered. Colette looked at Lloyd with a worried face. "It's getting late," She said, pausing and looking at the ground. She didn't want Lloyd to feel sad. "We should get some sleep or we might wake up late tomorrow." Colette took Lloyd's hand and gave him a warm smile. The group re-entered the inn and each of them fell asleep, as Derris-Kharlan hovered silently overhead.


	2. Raine Takes Charge

**Kiskadi: O: Chapter 2 is up, and this is mostly likely the fastest I've ever updated. That and the most I've ever typed. I hope you're enjoying my contribution to Tales of Symphonia fanfics. Anyway, I forgot to put a disclaimer (Not to mention any type of note) in the last chapter. So, because I am uncreative and stupid, I will allow Anna to write my disclaimer. (Yay.) She gets one whole section to blab away. Here's Anna O: Oh, and make it interesting Anna, or I'll hunt you down at school. Innocently smiles**

**Anna: You talk too much. Mmkay, disclaimer…**

**Disclaimer: What the hell is the point of a disclaimer, anyway? It's a fanfic. It's posted on Figure it out for yourselves you lazy morons.**

**Damn you for not adding yaoi. Just a bit of gay sex would be good enough D:**

**Kiskadi: Yeah… thanks Anna. She's my editor feels special. Ok, now enjoy chapter 2.**

**P.S. I'm sorry about Anna She's great once you get to know her… Also, I probably won't update that fast for chapter 3…. And hopefully not write as much.**

**Points to Anna dead on the floor from editing.**

**(Anna: Hey, I'm not dead! Editing is fun! Yay for grammar! shot)**

Raine stood in the middle of the room. In the left hand, she held a bottle of black sand; in the right, a bottle of white sand. Carefully, she opened both bottles, and gripped them firmly.

"_Oh guardian of this door," _she chanted, _"I ask of thee to open that which thee protects." _She spun around once, spilling both sands in unison. _"The river of life is forever flowing. From this comes light and dark…" _She adjusted her arms so the left was now higher than the right, and continued the dance. _"Dark, the representation of all sins in this world," _Again, she adjusted so that her right arm was now higher then the left, _"Light, the power that sustains life and happiness… When these two unite…" _She stopped dancing, and held both bottles high. They began to glow. She took off the ribbon on her waist and quickly attached one bottle to each end. Now, she held the middle and the bottles dangled at parallel heights. _"…Our world is formed!"_ The bottles began to glow brighter. Raine held the ribbon tight, ready to perform the sacred ritual. As she danced, sand continued to flow out of each bottle. It seemed like there was an endless amount, for the sand levels within the bottles never lessened. The sun was now entering the room at a larger rate. It hit the grains and a mystical aura engulfed the room. Lloyd, Colette, and Genis gazed with excitement as a pattern began to form on the floor.

"How does she do that?" Lloyd wondered. "Professor Sage is amazing!"

"Well, she's been practicing for 3 nights now," Genis whispered, still focusing all his attention on his sister.

Raine stopped. The temple was silent and the pattern on the floor was now complete. She stood in the first ring she had made, which was located in the center of the room. From it extended lines and curves that together formed a shape that was truly magnificent. Despite the complicity of the dance, the two types of sands never once mixed. Raine stood quietly and closed her eyes. An enormous gust of wind entered the temple. This caught the three spectators by surprise. It scattered the sand pattern on the floor and picked up each grain. The wind blew around the room, carried the sand around Raine, and finally guided it into a vase that was planted in front of the closed doors. The vase was balanced on a pillar high above and was isolated from two shorter pillars below.

When the last grain of sand entered it, the ground shook madly. Lloyd, Genis and Colette each fell to their knees from the magnitude of the earthquake. Only Raine continued to stand still. The stone doors began to move slowly. Rubble and dust that had collected on top now fell to the ground. Thick vines that grew over the doors were torn apart and little animals could be seen frantically escaping the trembling shrine. A layer of wood pealed off the door, revealing hidden markings that were aglow. Earth that was held up by vines rained down on the group of travelers. Genis and Lloyd held their heads in fear of little pebbles entwined with the falling soil. Outside, sounds of frightened birds were mangled with the confusion and noise happening within the temple.

"The temple's coming down!" Lloyd yelled. He turned his head to Genis. "Shouldn't we tell the professor to run?!"

"I-I'm sure this is just part of the process." Genis cried back. There was uncertainty in his voice. "L-let's wait and see!" Lloyd turned to check if Colette, too, was all right.

"Wow, this is so exciting." Colette clapped with joy, unaware of the collapsing structure around her. Lloyd gave a silent chuckle and returned to focus on the path that was revealing. The stone doors continued to slide across the floor. Soon, they stopped. The rumbling halted, animals stopped quivering and the only sound that could be heard was the wind, leaving the room behind. Lloyd looked up, and caught a glimpse of the professor approaching the doorway. After realizing the shaking had ceased, he got up and brushed the layer of dust that had formed over his hair.

"This is amazing!" Lloyd fell over from the sudden scream. "Look at these carvings! They must have reacted to the ritual!" Raine quickly scanned them. "The light must have been created by another form of magitechonology." She put her hands on the doors, examined the crumbles on the floor, and laughed contently. "These doors were covered by a thin layer of stone. I should have known! The main material that was used was polycarbonate! Genis," She called, "Get over here and take a sample!" Genis sighed and ran over with a beaker. He inserted a small slab of stone into it, and then looked back at the two friends.

"It can't be helped," He said, "You'd think that Raine would calm down after the fact we've been doing this for a year." He was immediately slapped.

"Poor Genis," Colette said, smiling in the process, "But I'm glad the professor hasn't grown out of it. I like her best like this."

"Yeah…" Lloyd thought, "It gives you a feeling of home." He and Colette both walked up to the opened doors. The professor had already sprinted down, examining the surrounding walls as she did.

"Look at this!" an echo called, "There are even carvings on the walls. Professor Caprous must have been an extraordinary man!" Her voice trailed off as she entered deeper down the flight of stairs.

"Wow," Colette cried, "I want to see too, Professor Sage!" She skipped down the stairs after Raine, followed closely by Lloyd and Genis.

"Who was this Caprous guy, anyway?" Lloyd asked.

"You don't know? Then how did you hear about this place?" Genis gave a sigh of disappointment.

"Don't give me that," Lloyd said. He quickly thought of a rebuttal, "The woman at the Hotel never told us anything. I-It's not my fault." Genis signed and gave a smile, which was not visible in the dark.

"You really haven't changed, Lloyd," He paused, "Heath Caprous was said to have been a scholar that studied the concept of life and death. His theory was that the goddess Martel created two dimensions for the souls that had moved on. One was Heaven, the other was Hell."

"It's that obvious?" Lloyd asked, "Everyone knows about that."

"Don't interrupt," Genis said. As they walked down the stairs, the light above was vanishing. "He also had a theory that these dimensions had limits to the number of souls contained in it. Therefore there were always wandering souls that stayed on earth. These are known to us as doppelgangers."

"Wow, that's horrible," Lloyd thought back to his mother. "So these souls are stuck on earth forever just because they didn't die sooner?"

"No. Caprous hypothesized that the goddess Martel would return the older souls that had rehabilitated to earth, inside the body of a newborn of any sort. Thus, room would be made for those wandering ones. But when the exspheres were introduced…"

"…the death rates increased drastically." They had entered the floor beneath the temple, and a red glow could be seen. Raine and Colette stood in front of it. "The precious balance was disrupted," She continued, "According to Caprous, Martel has a set rate on how fast she can release the souls. If done too quickly, those souls will become unstable, and wreak chaos on the world in their living state. Still, the souls of people who suffered from the exspheres wandered the world aimlessly, and more and more were appearing. This was his explanation for Desians." She turned to Lloyd. "Martel no longer was given a choice of how fast to reincarnate the souls. The ones wondering the earth were getting out of hand, and the ones she reincarnated where turning into evil Desians."

"That's horrible!" said Colette, "Either way, our world was doomed."

"Yes," Raine replied.

"So how was the world supposed to recover?" Lloyd asked, "If this cycle continued, the world would have gone insane!"

"Were we not close to that last year?" she asked, "That is, before you united the worlds. But people can change… and that's what Caprous said Martel waited for. She waited for the Desians to change, and stop creating exspheres. She waited for four thousand years." Raine stopped.

"Did you get all that, Lloyd?" Genis said.

"Yeah..." Lloyd thought for a second, "Yeah, I got it all." He walked with Genis to were the Professor and Colette where standing. "So this temple was dedicated to his works, huh? Wow, that's amazing." He turned to the red glowing orb that floated on a carved stand. Beside it were two smaller stands that stood quietly. All three were covered in dust. Some moss could be seen clinging tightly to the one facing the stairs. "It's the exsphere!" Lloyd said, "This is great!" He reached for it.

"Lloyd," cried Raine, "Don't!" Lloyd's hand reached a certain point before electricity shot out through a barrier around the exsphere. It traveled along his body and jolted him with enormous power. An agonizing howl could be heard from even outside the temple. The electricity continued to attack even as Lloyd withdrew his hand. It formed rings and began to strangle the teen. He desperately tried to rid his body of it, but there was no progress. Colette screamed. Tears stared to run down her face. Genis watched with horror as Lloyd ran around the room in pain. Both quickly ran towards Lloyd. Colette was held back by Raine.

"Professor Sage!" Colette yelled, "Let go of me, I have to help Lloyd!"

"Leave this to Genis. I have an idea." She whispered. "Genis! Cast indignation!" Colette looked at the Professor in disbelief and shock.

"No!" she cried, "You'll kill him with that spell!" She struggled for Raine to free her, but the grip was too strong. Genis began to cast. Purple sparks formed where he stood. His spell was set, the area circle formed, and Lloyd stood in the middle, gasping for air.

"Genis!" Colette cried, "Stop! Don't do this! Genis!" The lightening struck; it hit its target straight on. Colette turned away, and cried until she felt her heart would burst.

"It's alright," Raine assured, "you can look."

Colette was afraid to look. She didn't want to know. Slowly, she turned her head. Lloyd lay in the middle of the floor. Sparks flew out of different areas of his body. Raine let go, and Colette put her hands on her mouth.

"L-Lloyd…" she whispered. Her body was shaking; it wouldn't stop, just like the thumping of her heart. She approached him and knelt down. "L-Lloyd?" she stuttered, "Lloyd, wake up." A weak smile appeared. "Lloyd? Y-you're alright…right? Please….answer…" but there was none. She tilted her head, and tears fell from her eyes. Slowly, she got up. With a sudden jerk, she turned her head to glare at the siblings. Genis flinched at the look.

"C-Colette," he began, "It's alright. Don't worry about it. Lloyd, he's… he's…"

"Dead!" she cried, "How could you do this?! He trusted you, stood still for you attack, didn't even flinch when he was stuck! You…were his best friend," She tried to hold in her sadness, but it leaked out. She burst into tears, to the point were her words were barely understandable. With her hand buried in her hands, she whispered, "H-how could you…?"

"He isn't dead," Said a voice from behind. Colette turned and found the professor examining Lloyd. She took out her staff and a warm glow emitted from it.

"B-but, he's not breathing…" Colette whispered. She walked up to Lloyd and put her hand on his face. Genis also came and sat next to Colette. "His face is so cold," She said, "Is he…really alive?"

"Wow Colette," Genis smiled. "I thought you of all people would not be the first to give up." She stared at Genis, and did not know what he meant. A voice suddenly startled her.

"C-Colette?" Her eyes widened, and to her amazement, Lloyd opened his eyes. "Colette..." he said, "why are you crying?" Again, tears formed in her eyes, but this time, she was thrilled by their presence.

"I-I'm not crying," she said. Her words were weak, and she wiped the tears from her face, only to have them replaced by more. Lloyd lifted his body to a sitting position, and Colette hugged him. "You're alive…"She whispered. She held him tightly. Lloyd gave a little groan. At that, Colette pulled back. "Does it hurt?" She asked. Smiling, she apologized. Lloyd took his hand and wiped the remaining tears off her face. He shook them to the floor and smiled back.

"Remind me never to do that again," He teased. Colette laughed as Lloyd tried to stand up. Raine forced him down and instructed he not move while she performed her healing arts.

"Just because you're alive doesn't mean your structure was not damaged." She said. "That jolt of electricity was created by a powerful spell meant to protect the exsphere from thieves. It was also meant to kill the intruder by extracting all the mana in their body. I guess you can't really call it electricity, since it was created by magic. That is also why it didn't use your body to travel towards the ground. " She gave a signal to Genis, and he disappeared. Lloyd looked at Colette to see if he wasn't the only one who did not understand the reason behind this. Unfortunately, all he noticed was Colette focusing her attention on a cut that the professor had missed when bandaging.

"She's not even listening, is she?" He thought. Soon, footsteps could be heard coming down the stairs as Genis returned carrying a small, pale bottle.

"I had Noishe carry it just in case," She explained. The lid of the bottle came off after a bit of a struggle and Raine emptied a triangular pill into Lloyd's hand.

"What is it?" He asked.

"It's a Hypo-tactinate pill," Genis replied, "We got it from a small village when traveling. Those villagers are pretty smart. They've invented all sorts of medicine that we haven't even thought of." Genis's voice started to bounce with excitement. "Can you believe it? This village is so isolated. They were so shocked when Raine patched a wound with her healing arts. That's mainly why they need such impressive medication." Lloyd, quickly forgetting Genis's explanation, briefly examined the pill before popping it into his mouth.

"I don't feel any different." He lifted his arm, only to have it fall back with a spark pain. "My body still feels kind of numb," He admitted, "Are you sure it works, Professor Sage?"

"I told you," She said, "The electricity was mainly trying to extract all of your mana. This pill will counteract that and allow your mana to multiply faster then usual. Until your body is at a stable level, that is."

"So it won't miraculously heal me?" He asked.

"No," Raine replied, "Haven't you been listening? What do you think I am?" Leaving Lloyd speechless, she got up and walked towards the stands. The others also got up, Colette helping Lloyd, and walked up to the exsphere.

Raine could be heard talking to herself, "This has got to do with that giant rock on the temple roof." She slowly walked to one of the smaller stands, examining every detail on the way. She noticed something peculiar about the two smaller ones. "The top is gouged in…" She thought, "Nevertheless, it's best if we decipher the writing on the top first. Colette," she called, "Can you do me a favor?"

"Sure!" She happily skipped over to the professor. "Oh um… sorry about before," She whispered. "I shouldn't have gotten mad, and… I should have trusted you guys more. I'm sorry." She smiled, turned to Genis, and also gave a little apology. Both nodded in forgiveness.

Raine led Colette onto the first floor of the temple. They passed the grave of the scholar on the way out. Fresh flowers lay on the tombstone. Just as before, the bouquet never withered. They lay in the exact position as the friends had put them, even after such a tremendous earthquake. Colette looked back and saw a little garden snake coil itself around a Lily.

"This place… is so amazing," She thought.

"Colette, stop daydreaming!" the professor was already awaiting the girl at the door. Colette hurried and ran toward the professor. As soon as sunlight hit her eyes, she was dazed. The sudden switch form total darkness was having an effect. She wobbled around a bit before Raine helped her stand straight. "If you can't take the light," she said, "Just close your eyes for a bit, and listen." Colette did as she was advised and Raine began to explain what she wanted her to do.

Colette was to fly on top of the temple, and make an imprint of the stone tablet.

"There's paper and charcoal in my bag," Raine said, "I just want a complete print, so the writing is legible to some point. Can you do that?"

Colette hesitated; the thought of flight somewhat worried her.

"I-I can try…" she said, "But with the mana levels fluctuating lately, sometimes I can't—"

"It's alright. The temple is holding more then enough mana for you to harvest. The levels in this area don't drop as drastically either. If it does, you will have enough time to collect enough."

Colette, although still slightly worried, closed her eyes. She collected all the mana needed from outside and formed little groups of them inside her. With all her strength, she attempted to push them out. Shapes were now appearing on her back. Professor Sage watched as the young girl began to grow wings. "Please, goddess Martel," Colette prayed, "Give me strength." With another part of her energy, she inserted feeling into these newly formed wings. Slowly, Colette opened her eyes. She looked up at the tablet, without daring to see if she had succeeded in pulling them out, jumped. She felt the wind blow through her hair, and the sound of paper rustling. Before long, she was on top of the temple.

"Hurry," Raine cried from below, "If you need mana to sustain the usage of your wings, then I can't guarantee that you'll have them for long. Oh, just to tell you, I can't climb, so if you're stuck there you're stuck there." Colette smiled, but she cared for none of this.

"I finally used them again." She thought. Quickly, she placed the paper onto the tablet and started to color over it. "I can use them, and it was easy. I don't feel tired right now, and they're still out. This truly is a great place." Her smile continued to broaden. Raine shouted from below and was now waving her fists. "Oh, I'm coming, professor!" Colette hurriedly finished the imprint and returned to Raine's side. On the descent, her legs collapsed for that moment, and she fell to the ground.

"Colette!" Raine helped her up.

"I'm alright," She said, "Um, here's your print." Raine took the print, and examined it quickly. Colette peeked over her shoulder. "What does it say?" she asked.

"I'll explain later," Raine began to run downstairs, "we'll need the boys to help us."

Colette stood alone, and wondered what was happening. A sharp pain suddenly pinched her back. She made a little groan, and looked behind. Her wings where gone. She closed her eyes, and could see no shapes. Colette's eyes quickly saddened.

"I guess I was hoping for too much…" She whispered.

Raine returned from behind the door closely followed by Genis and Lloyd. "Lloyd!" she cried, "Is it ok for you to be running?" Raine assured her it was fine.

"My muscles are still a bit sore," he added, "But I don't really feel tired or anything anymore." He turned to the professor, "So what is it that you needed?"

Raine cleared her throat, "I need each of you… to collect every single earring that is attached to the statues in this garden." Shocked faces could be seen all around.

"Professor…"Lloyd started, " that really won't be a problem…except…" He gestured to the garden. Not only was the area of this garden expanding farther then the eye could see, but there were more statues that could be counted in a day.

"I don't care!" Raine demanded, "The only way to release that barrier from the exsphere." She held up the print, "It's described in here!"

Lloyd stared at it, "Eh, Professor…" he said, "That's great and all, but I can't understand it." Raine took the parchment and examined it quickly.

"What do you mean?" she asked, "I can read it perfectly!" Genis, noticing the circumstances, quickly nudged Raine.

"We're not all like you," he whispered. Without any further delay, Raine signed and began to translate the work.

"Listen closely," she warned, "I'm only doing this once, and then we're splitting up to look." She lifted the paper, and began to slowly read.

"_This temple, which was dedicated to the gods, will forever sleep from the power of one man. Those who wish to defy the power are capable, only when light and dark reunites. Gifts from the guardians shall not break through the barrier, unless presented as asked…"_

Raine began to trail off, as the printing became lighter. She rubbed her head, and looked up from behind the sheet.

"Is that all?" Lloyd asked. The professor made a slightly disappointed face.

"No," She said, "It's too light for me to read." Colette quickly shifted her head towards Raine.

"I'm sorry," She said, "You ask me to do such a simple job… and I can't even get that right." She lowered her head in shame.

"It's alright," Raine replied, "The stone was most likely corroded by the rain these past years. Even if you had pressed harder, the likelihood of any other result is slim." She turned and looked at Lloyd. "That makes no difference," she said, "We have already received what we needed to know for the retrieval of the exsphere." Raine quickly explained the translation in words that Lloyd and Colette understood.

"The temple was created to honor life and death, as we said before. Through many of our books, there are brief mentions of goddesses and gods besides Martel. Do you remember the two we studied the deepest, Lloyd?" Lloyd looked around, and shook his head.

"They were the two goddesses of Life and Death, right?" Colette answered for him.

"Exactly. Very good, Colette," Raine praised, "From this conclusion, we can safely assume that the two different types of statues in this garden represent them." Raine lead the group to one of the statues and pointed out that the earring on it was different from the one next to it. "This one has a rusted chain attaching the actual earring, while the other one clearly wears a silver chain. I believe these are the gifts we must put onto the smaller stands. At least for the barrier to disintegrate…" She walked behind her three students, and began pushing them into the garden. "So you'd better get started!"

The sun was already high and striking the earth when everyone spilt up to plough through the numerous statues. Raine scolded Lloyd many times for retrieving earrings with the stone ear still dangling on the end. At one point, she even went to the extent of tugging hardly at Lloyd's own left ear and questioning if he would enjoy having it torn off. Of course, both Genis and Colette knew the professor was not angry from pity for the statues, but simply since Lloyd had destroyed a bit of history. Finally, Genis signed and said,

"We've been searching for hours. Raine, can we take a break?" He waited for a response while wiping some sweat off his face. When there was no response, he turned to see that everyone was already beyond his view.

"This is crazy! Am I lost?" Panicking, he ran towards the direction in which he came. "I don't remember the temple grounds to be this big! Colette was with me just a few minutes ago." Soon, a little gravel path came into sight. Huffing, he dropped onto the stairs to rest. "A-at least I found the temple." Looking around, no one was there. All that came to Genis's eyes was the fence that marked the end of the perimeter surrounding the temple. His face marked the sign of confusion. "This has no meaning." He thought, "Calculating the acceleration and velocity in which I was running, plus the distance between the fence and here, I shouldn't have used this much energy…wait a minute…" The thought paused and Genis nodded with approval. "This whole area must also be infused with magic. What a powerful spell… It's so strong I couldn't even sense it. The spell probably somehow sends the recipient back to a certain position, while shifting a few statues in the process. This way, we never actually gain distance." He rustled his hair in frustration. "We'll never get what Raine wants this way." Thinking for a bit, Genis closed his eyes to recall the words Raine had recited.

"This temple…in which was dedicated to the gods… will forever sleep from the power of one man. Those who wish to defy the power are capable… only when light and dark reunites. Gifts from… the …guardians!" Immediately, Genis jumped up, and ran along the stone path. At the end, he saw the trail lead off into a large grassy plain. There were two statues standing on either end of the finishing path. "Just as a thought…" He approached the statues and retrieved both earrings. Smiling, he turned and ran back.

Everyone, by now, was exhausted and had collapsed on the stairs.

"This is hard," Colette admitted, "I didn't think there where so many of them." She sat up, "It somewhat seems they can multiply."

"Wow," Lloyd said, although slightly out of breath, "that would be so cool. Then the professor wouldn't have to hit me for those I broke by accident."

"Yeah, wouldn't it be great for someone who was selling garden statues? I bet they would love this." Both smiled and nodded in agreement. Raine was sitting at the side, and now shaking her head. Genis came running from the distance calling out.

"Hurry inside!" He shouted, "I know what to do!" Everyone was shocked at his abrupt entrance, but neither the less, followed after Genis down to the room. He handed both earrings to Lloyd.

"Would you like to do the honors?" He asked. Lloyd hesitated and asked if it involved pain, and Genis laughed. "It won't," he promised. "I figured that it was kind of stupid to have whoever was trying to extract the exsphere go through all the pairs of earrings, so I thought about the verse," He paused, just to award himself with a bit of inner praise, for, after all, he had discovered the secret even before Raine.

"Well?" Lloyd asked. They were all anxious to hear what he had discovered.

"Well," Genis continued, "In the verse, they mention gifts of guardians. I figured that meant the two statues placed right in front of the entrance. They seem to guard it, and the gifts are the earrings. And… the part that says 'presented when asked' most likely means the rusted one goes on the left stand, and the other one on the right," He finished with a smile.

"Why do you figure that?" Colette asked. "I mean… where to place the earrings."

"Because," he added, "all the statues with the rusted half wore the earring on the left, and vice-versa." Right after finishing, he urged Lloyd to proceed as he had said. Lloyd approached the stands cautiously and Colette and Genis stepped back to where Raine was standing.

"How did you figure out about the statues?" She whispered. Genis explained about his discovery of the spell, and Raine smiled. "I'm very proud of you, Genis." She patted him on the head, and her brother blushed. By now, Lloyd had already put the first earring on the left stand. He hesitated a bit, before sturdily placing the second on the right stand. Quickly, he ran back and joined the friends.

A warm light formed around the exsphere. The area in which the barrier was kept was now visible. It shook, and then spontaneously shattered, vanishing. Lloyd smiled and started walking to obtain the exsphere. Raine suddenly put her hand on his shoulder.

"I don't feel this is right…" she whispered. He looked at her and turned to the exsphere. It hovered in place quietly. An eerie atmosphere arose. Colette began to shiver.

"The exsphere," she said, "it's giving off funny mana waves." Not long after, it shot from its place, and cut directly through the stone roof, destroying the grave above. The temple vibrated. Walls started to crumble, and the structure was no longer stable.

They all stood there in shock. Raine staggered before reacting.

"Run!" she shouted. All of them sprinted to the stairs, closely followed by falling rocks and stones. They ran for their lives and barely reached the entrance before the whole structure completely caved in. The sun had set, and the only light was now that of the flouting exsphere.

"W-what's going on?" Colette's voice shook, and she was crying. The exsphere was still. It did not move, as if still placed on its stand. Horror sunk into the travelers' hearts. They watched, as the exsphere parted. The shards circled around, each emitting its own glow. Suddenly, they regrouped and shot towards the Mana tree. Fierce power leaked from underneath each shard, burning forests in its path, ripping mountains as they flew. Colette gave a terrifying scream.

"It's going to hit the Mana Tree!"


End file.
